When indie-rockers Death Cab for Cutie tour the U.S. next month, their fans will be invited to take the trip with them  virtually, of course.

The gentle Pacific Northwestern quartet is headlining the Holiday Matinee Winter Tour with the Jealous Sound and the And/Ors, and the entire outing will be followed closely with daily updates on the Holiday Matinee Web site.

"What we wanted to do is pretty much try and document what it's like to be on the road with an indie-rock band," said Dave Brown, president of the Holiday Matinee publicity company. "A lot of people don't realize all the work that goes into being in a band on the road. It's fun, it's rough, it's everything."

Brown said digital photos will be posted daily  not just of what happens onstage, but what happens during the considerable amount of time before and after the shows. Also, the artists have been issued laptops so bandmembers can post journal entries to an ongoing tour diary and answer questions from fans in an online discussion forum.

The Los Angeles and Pomona, California, shows will be recorded on digital video and later streamed online, and the Chicago stop will be Web cast live. Other shows will be recorded digitally as well and may be edited together and released on DVD later this year, Brown said.

Death Cab for Cutie are already well acquainted with the touring circuit, having spent a great deal of last year on the road supporting March's critically acclaimed We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes LP and October's Forbidden Love EP.

The Jealous Sound are the latest project of singer/songwriter Blair Shehan, whose former band, Knapsack, was at the forefront of the '90s post-punk movement. The Jealous Sound recently signed to Mojo Records and are working on a full-length album to follow up last year's self-titled EP.

Garage-rockers the And/Ors  whose lineup includes former members of Jejune, Crash Worship, Corrugated and Interstate 10  will celebrate their first release while on tour. The band's The And/Ors Will Self-Destruct comes out February 6.